Odhikar, a national human rights organisation, 220 persons were killed and 13,999 were injured in political violence in 2010 alone. There were also 576 incidents of internal violence in the Awami League (AL) and 92 within the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), in which 38 persons were killed and 5,614 persons were injured in AL internal conflict, and seven persons were killed and 1,146 persons were injured in internal BNP violence. Secret Killings: In its well-informed observation on the human rights situation in Bangladesh in 2011, ASK expressed its concerns that in recent years, especially since 2011, ‘disappearance’ or ‘secret killing’ emerged as a new trend of crime, the rate of which is very alarming compared to any previous point of time. “The decomposed bodies of some of the victims of secret killing, with visible marks of torture such as tied hands and legs, uprooted finger nails have been found and many still remain traceless.” According to the ASK reports, throughout the year of 2011 different media reported the news of dead bodies of the disappeared persons lying at different places of the country. In some cases, the relatives of 78 “A review of ASK on Human Rights Situation in Bangladesh 2011,” report presented in a press conference by ASK on January 1, 2012. 79 Quoted in ibid. 80 US Department of States, Annual Human Rights Reports 2010, Bangladesh Chapter (released on April 8, 2011), available at: <http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2010/sca/154478.htm>. 64

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